A GROUP of pensioners have been left furious by the installation of three giant broadband boxes which they claim is stopping light from coming into their houses.
Donald, 88, and Rosemary Ferguson, 82 and their neighbour Betty McGrath, 83, have been battling with Virgin Media since the grey boxes were installed on their street in Barrhead, East Renfrewshire, in January.
Mrs Ferguson, who has lived at the address for the last seven years, said that they were never told that the boxes would be placed directly out their home.
She said: “It completely blocks out any light from coming into the house, and we now have no outlook at all.
“We were never advised they were going to be put here, but apparently, that’s because they don’t need planning permission to put them up.
“We have been fighting this since January and have just hit a brick wall the whole way.”
Local councillor Danny Devlin is demanding the boxes be removed and relocated to a more suitable place.
He said: “The boxes should be removed and Virgin should be made to go through the planning process with the council."
But Virgin said the installation was part of their ongoing expansion in Barrhead.
A spokeswoman said: “Virgin Media is currently expanding its network in the area to bring ultrafast broadband speeds to more homes and businesses.
“We endeavour to minimise disruption and we apologise for any inconvenience to residents.
“In the case of the cabinets in Lowndes Court, the council was notified prior to Virgin Media installing the cabinets and the correct procedures were followed.”
Council chiefs said communication companies including Virgin Media do not require planning permission to install the boxes.
A spokesman said: “Infrastructure providers, including broadband providers, have certain permitted development rights for boxes and installations.
“Planning permission is not required for these boxes, although we would expect them to placed in suitable locations which have minimal impact on residents.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel